Any company carrying out any combination of one, two, or three (but not all four) of the element will be assessed and Licensed in the applicable elements above. (eg if you only do 'installation' and 'maintenance', you will get the elements EML 1.2 and EML 1.4 below).

The purpose of being able to apply for individual or a combination of the four elements is to allow those companies who do not carry out all four functions to obtain the BSI Kitemark for those they do perform; it is expected that a company will apply for ALL functions which it carries out.

Note: We can assess you for work categories in which you do AT LEAST 5% of your total work. If you do less than 5% of your total work in a specific category, it is unlikely that you will have sufficient work examples for us to assess.

Before you can achieve the BSI Kitemark you will receive an assessment visit. This assessment will look at both the quality of electrical installation work and the general administration associated with such work. We will carry out periodic surveillance visits to ensure quality standards are being maintained.

Key Contacts

Your business will be required to name a Principal Duty Holder* (PDH) and a Qualified Supervisor**. If you are a sole trader the PDH and QS can obviously be combined.

* The Principal Duty Holder (PDH) must be a full-time principal or senior manager of the business having an understanding of, and responsibility for, the health and safety and other legal requirements relating to the range of electrical work undertaken by the business. The PDH shall be responsible for the assignment of electrical work to the Qualified Supervisor(s), be responsible for ensuring that all work undertaken is carried out by competent persons who are adequately and appropriately supervised, and be responsible for ensuring that the appropriate certificates and reports are issued for electrical work.

** A Qualified Supervisor (QS) is a competent person with specific responsibility, on a day-to-day basis, for the safety, technical standard and quality of work under their supervision. They shall be directly employed by the contractor and be available on a full-time basis. It is the QS(s) who is assessed under the scheme.

Qualifications

The QS as a minimum will be required to obtain the FIA one day course pass certificate (or equivalent) within 12 months of joining the scheme. Where ‘Installation’ is involved, the QS will also be required to have passed a minimum of the City and Guilds BS 7671:2008 17th edition course (or equivalent). More than one person may be qualified.

Who and what is inspected?

The company’s QS, namely the person(s) responsible for signing off the compliance of emergency lighting systems, will need to demonstrate their knowledge of all aspects of emergency lighting to BS 5266 parts 1, 7, 8 and 10.

Technical assessment

The technical assessment looks at your QS’s knowledge of design, installation, maintenance inspection, testing and certification to BS 5266 as applicable to the type of work you do. The assessment will be based on what is seen on site and through questioning, including knowledge of the Building Regulations applicable to the work. For testing, we will also need to see examples of test certificates issued as well as check your test instrumentation.

The assessment will include at least 2 site visits; which may include one work in progress, preferably 1st fix stage and another site completed and certificated work. Completed work should be available for a small amount of retesting to be carried out. This serves the purpose of checking the test data on completion certificates and the QS’s knowledge and testing technique.

Sample work locations

The sites to be visited should contain sufficient technical content to warrant an assessment. (eg the addition of two or three emergency lighting fittings to an existing system would not be considered as suitable for assessment

Where a company ONLY carries out one or two of the four elements of design, installation, inspect/test/certify, or maintenance, a BSI Kitemark may still be obtained which is restricted to these specific elements.

Office-based Assessment

The office-based assessment will check that the business has in place such things as: -

Public liability insurance - a minimum cover of £2M is required

A written Health and Safety Policy Statement

How you record and deal with complaints received about the technical standard, safety and functionality of electrical installation work.

The qualifications and experience of the QS

Copies of all Certification and Reports issued. This will depend on what type of certificates you issue; e.g. Installation Certificates; Periodic Inspection Reports; etc

Inventory of test instruments and records of calibration tests/checks.

Technical library

The technical library - The business must hold as a minimum;

BS 5266 parts 1, 7, 8 and 10.

Current edition of BS 7671 (mandatory if engaged in the ‘installation’ of the emergency lighting system)

HS (R) 25 the Memorandum of Guidance to the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.

The above is a summary of some of the key areas covered during your assessment If you would like more information before you book, please contact us on the details below and we will forward this information to you.

All businesses awarded the BSI Kitemark and so authorised to self certify will be assessed against the same criteria and achieve the same standard, regardless of size. ALL the parts of BS 5266 as listed above will be considered during assessment; these are not choices to select.